Chapter 209: The city buried in the sea of sand (Edited)

"Ancient Egypt is one of the four ancient civilizations, first formed in the Fayum region of Lower Egypt," Tom thought for a moment, sat down in a chair and began to popularize knowledge of ancient Egypt for Hermione: "The ancient Egyptians date back 19,000 years ago, when North Africa was still a land of abundant water and grass. Thousands of years ago, the Sahara was not so dry, for example, it shows that nomadic pastoralism was possible in the middle of the Sahara at least around 7000 BC. In later times, in the heart of the Sahara desert, livestock were raised, fine pottery was made and stone formations were observed; the History of Magic also records that ancient sorcerers skilled in divination existed there and that it was the birthplace of ancient Egyptian beliefs."

Hermione was intrigued, and sat on the bed, listening intently to Tom's story.

"Where we are going, in the Sahara Desert, are the ruins of an ancient Egyptian city from the time of the ancient kingdoms." Tom indicated their destination. This information was based on two clues he had received earlier.

Tom had completed a quest called "Wood Elf" and had unlocked the achievement "Alchemist," which gave him two clues about advanced alchemy. Each of these two clues is accompanied by a commentary and a poem.

Combined, they are a text about an ancient city.

[Ancient City of the God of Time: A rich city that once flourished during the First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, belonging to the great god of time, Thot, a city brimming with beer and laden with bread, hidden by him in the yellow sand. Go to the Sahara Desert and find this city lost in time. To find it can be rewarding, to understand the wonders of alchemy and time, but it can also be...]

As for the two poems, one is titled "Come with me to the sunlit waters" and the other "Aswan night market."

[Come with me to the sunlit waters

How bright is my well-wrapped robe

Nourished with oil and adorned with flowers

Your joy makes my body glow

The golden fishes glisten in the pool

Behold, I hold it in the palm of my hand

Come, oh come, the river swirls by

Jump with me and leave this place forever]

[Are you going to Aswan?

Aswan, in the south of Egypt?

Museums, Giza, kebabs, the night market

Knowledge, friends, legacy and secrets in the cats.

Ride with the servants of the gods, over 99 sand dunes

In a place where everything is upside down

Get what you deserve].

The two poems were so confusing that Tom couldn't understand them, and he wanted to tell the system, "You'd better get it straight," but the system ignored him. Tom could only vaguely see that he should go to Aswan first, to visit the night market and the pyramids there.

As for the First Dynasty, that was key information.

Ancient Egypt had a long history, but unfortunately did not take its historical writings as seriously as its eastern descendants, and it was not until around 350 BC that the ancient Egyptian priest and scholar Manetho wrote a history of Egypt under the orders of the Egyptian governor Ptolemy I. Of course, this history was eventually destroyed in war by an old acquaintance of Tom's: Julius Caesar.

The few surviving words are an important source for the study of ancient Egyptian history. Egyptian history is divided into thirty dynasties by Manetho, with three periods - the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms - and modern historians have subdivided it into 33 dynasties, with five epochs - ancient, classical, imperial, Hellenistic and Roman.

According to archaeological findings, the first king of ancient Egypt was the Scorpion King, symbolized by the scorpion, who united the lands of Upper Egypt and also occupied a part of northern Egypt. Egypt is divided into two parts: Upper Egypt, which is usually defined as the banks of the Nile south of Cairo, and Lower Egypt, which is the Nile delta north of Cairo.

The core of ancient Egypt was like an umbrella-shaped mushroom, Upper Egypt being the stem and Lower Egypt the cap.

Around 3100 BC, the Scorpion King's successor, Narmer himself, launched an expedition to the north, defeating the allied forces of Lower Egypt in a battle of three days and three nights, and bringing Upper and Lower Egypt together under one roof. At the site of the battle, Narmer built a city called the "White City," later known as Memphis.

Memphis was called the White City because the rulers of Upper Egypt wore white crowns and the rulers of Lower Egypt wore red crowns, and Narmer was the first king to wear red and white crowns, that is, the king of kings. It is also believed that the Scorpion King was Narmer, because the symbols of both: the scepter of the Scorpion King, representing power, and the monarch of Narmer's palette, commemorating victory, are too similar.

This Narmer, who inaugurated the reign of the pharaohs, was also the first monarch of the first dynasty of ancient Egypt, the origin of civilization. The pharaoh was so legendary that he ruled for 62 years in Egypt, where the average age was only 30 years! Assuming he joined Egypt at age 20, he lived 82 years!

That's much longer than a long life expectancy, as the average life expectancy of a male in Westminster in 2020 is 84.7 years. In modern times, that would be equivalent to a fossil living over 200 years: a god! This caused future generations of pharaohs to try to find ways to associate themselves with him to prove their legitimacy.

And not only did he survive, but he was attacked by a hippopotamus during a hunt, and he was still hunting before he died! Had it not been for that hippopotamus, it is not known how long he would have ruled....

Egypt's first dynasty of Narmer lasted 250 years with 8 kings, but little is known about the first and second dynasties that followed, and it is not until the third dynasty that the history of ancient Egypt becomes clear. For over 400 years, from 3100 BC to 2686 BC, the history of ancient Egypt was shrouded in fog.

After listening to Tom's presentation, Hermione realized, "So we're going to Egypt, to find the ruins of an ancient city from the First Dynasty?" She was instantly excited: this was a discovery unparalleled in the history of archaeology! If we found it, it would fill in the gaps of knowledge about ancient Egypt, not to mention the mystery of ancient Egyptian witchcraft.

"Uncle Hal!" He seemed to remember something, "Dad says he's found a clue to the ruins of an ancient city from Egypt's First Dynasty, maybe it's the lost city we're looking for!"

Hermione perked up and jumped out of bed, "Let's pack our bags and get ready for Egypt!".